National Quality Framework
The National Laws state that you must not subject any child being educated and cared for by the service to any form of inappropriate punishment (corporal punishment); or any discipline that is unreasonable in the circumstances.
There is a $10 000 penalty for such offences. This is covered in Part 6, Sect 166 -1 (a) and 1(b) of the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 - Offence to use inappropriate discipline.
So a very important part of Child Protection for you under the NQF laws is to ensure you don’t commit abuse by using corporal punishment or unreasonable discipline.
The Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 prohibits your use of any form of corporal punishment; or any discipline that is unreasonable in the circumstances. If prosecuted your penalty for offending is a maximum $10000. This is covered in Part 6, Sect 166 -1 (a) and 1(b).
Corporal punishment is the use of physical force as a means of discipline. So you absolutely cannot smack, hit, grab, push, or do anything else using physical force to discipline a child.
Of course there will be times that using physical force would be justified – such as pushing a child out of the way of harm, or grabbing them to stop them running onto a busy road. But you cannot use physical force as a means of discipline.
When it comes to discipline, you need to consider the circumstances to know what is unreasonable. Grabbing a child by the arm to hold them still while you chastise them would not be acceptable - however grabbing them by the arm to prevent them from falling or running onto the road would be acceptable. Similarly, whilst time out may be a reasonable punishment – a child in time out for 8 of the 9 hours they spend in care would be unreasonable.